Speedy's job: Pump up Sliders fans

By day, Mike Winder is a part-time cable installer for Comcast Cable. By night, he’s Speedy, the Springfield Sliders’ turtle mascot, who entertains the crowd during Prospect League games at Robin Roberts Stadium. Learn more about the man behind the green mask.

The State Journal-Register

Writer

Posted Jul. 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 30, 2009 at 7:28 PM

Posted Jul. 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 30, 2009 at 7:28 PM

By day, Mike Winder is a part-time cable installer for Comcast Cable. By night, he’s Speedy, the Springfield Sliders’ turtle mascot, who entertains the crowd during Prospect League games at Robin Roberts Stadium.

Winder has donned the Speedy costume during home games for the Sliders’ first two seasons of existence. While Winder handles Speedy game duties, general manager Darren Feller and others in the organization’s front office take turns putting on the Speedy costume for public appearances during the off-season.

Before last season, Winder, 35, of Jacksonville, approached Feller — whom he did not know at the time —about wanting to do something to help the Sliders.

Winder volunteered his time as Speedy last year. Now, Winder gets paid an undisclosed amount per game, but he said the real reward comes from bringing some excitement to fans.

“My goal is to do this for the kids,” Winder said. “I’m not really worried about the money part. I mean, I still get paid, but money is not the issue. I want the kids to have fun and enjoy themselves.”

Winder uses a variety of methods to help fans have fun at the ballpark, such as cooling off fans with a water gun or leading the crowd in cheers. Sometimes, putting a smile on a fan’s face simply requires Speedy to stop and pose for a photo.

Although Winder will never step into the batter’s box or take the mound during a Sliders game, he believes that if he pumps up the crowd, it will have a trickle-down effect.

“The players feed off the crowd,” Winder said. “So I feel if the crowd enjoys me there, the kids like me there, they enjoy me being there, I feel I’ve done my part.”

Winder has long been a lover of sports. He played baseball and football growing up. A leg injury led him to give up playing sports at Stephen Decatur High School, but he stayed involved by being a student manager for the school’s football and baseball teams.

Winder coached an 11-12-year-old baseball team in Decatur this summer, and he plans to coach a Riverton Junior Football League team this fall.

Winder’s only other mascot experience came in the late 1980s. He was the mascot for a baseball team in a Texas summer league for about a year and a half before moving to Decatur in high school.

“I always figured I wanted to be in sports, some way or another, whether it was playing, working in it, being an announcer, it didn’t really matter,” Winder said. “As long as I was involved, that’s my biggest issue.”

Feller, by contrast, has a lengthy mascot resume.

He has suited up for six different teams. His first mascot work came while he was in college in the late 1990s, when he appeared at a children’s walk as “Maddy” of the Madison Monsters, a minor league hockey team.

Page 2 of 3 - Soon after, Feller spent a day as Bucky the Badger, the University of Wisconsin mascot. It was then that he truly noticed the effect a mascot can have.

“Bucky Badger, this guy is synonymous with the state,” Feller said. “They flock to this guy. That’s something I got to see first-hand. … It just blew my mind how recognizable he really is.”

Feller said he’s tried to pick up some techniques from other mascots in an effort to improve his own performance. While working for a minor league baseball team in Utah, Feller met and picked the brain of a former mascot for the Syracuse Orange — one of the best-known mascots in college athletics.

Winder said he also gets tips via his friendship with Justin Spiegel, who has been the St. Louis Cardinals’ Fredbird for more than 10 years.

Feller was a member of the committee that came up with the idea for Speedy. He said the goal was to make Speedy a character who would be fun for fans to be around.

“Even the look of Speedy, you look at him and he’s a fan,” Feller said. “He is a baseball fan. He’s got the backwards hat, he’s got the Sliders jersey, he looks happy. He’s got the floppy shoes. He’s just a fun character, both for the young and the old.”

Over time, Feller has come to appreciate the importance of branding a mascot. When people see Speedy, whether it’s at a game or out in the community, he wants them immediately to think of the Springfield Sliders.

As a result, Speedy has appeared at numerous events during the off-season, such as the Easter egg hunt at Knight’s Action Park and the Children Miracle Network’s annual phone-a-thon.

Sometimes, the effort to get Speedy out in the community leads the mascot into uncharted waters — or even onto frozen water. In March, Feller put on the Speedy costume and skated on the Nelson Center ice rink before a Springfield Junior Blues game and during intermissions.

“I had to teach myself how to skate again. I hadn’t been (skating) in, like, 12 years,” Feller said.

“I had to go in to Nelson Center on a Sunday just to put on the blades and see how it felt again. My ankles were pretty sore, but that’s what it takes. It’s something unique that people are like, ‘Wow, Speedy is on skates?’ Of course he is.”